


What It Takes

by Vinyan



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: (jp voice preferred), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Despair, F/M, Guilt, Hope, also what it takes by aerosmith, fucked myself up while in the midst, had to make him sad first tho, he just needs a hug, i just wanted One Man to be happy, idk what else to put, please appreciate One Man, so thats where this comes from, those pics ppl draw with him gettin hugged got me so bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-25 12:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20025904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinyan/pseuds/Vinyan
Summary: SHB SPOILERSFrom Emet-Selch's PoV, what would it take?What would it take to protect his star?What would it take to let you go?Could he?





	What It Takes

**Author's Note:**

> this has ShB spoilers, and reliant on the theories presented in Amaurot, which i think are awesome!! our character was def his lover and i will not be convinced otherwise :^)

_I could have never imagined such a thing. That she would disagree so strongly. Refuted with the strength of her entire being, even after we searched for every conceivable solution._

_It’s simply ridiculous._

“Are you quite aware of the intent those statements hold?”  
“I’m certain. I meant every word.”  
“This is ludicrous. You’re a member of the Council, an established body that acts to guide, protect, and reassure our people. Not only would you betray an infinite number of innocents, but myself as well! Does this mean naught to you?!”  
“You make it seem as though I came to this conclusion mere moments ago. A fleeting impulse – reckless and misguided. You, of all people, should know that I am not such.”  
“That is exactly why I do not understand your reasoning – you’re the only one of the Fourteen that dissented to our solution!”  
“I will not be swayed, Hades. I am tired of this farce – I can no longer count the number of times that I’ve tried and failed to explain myself to you.”  
“…In our dying hour, this is what you would choose?”  
“Yes. This is the only way.”  
“Fool. Am I worth nothing to you? What of our hopes? Our happiness? Our struggles? You would discard them for a concept, an ideal, that may not even, in the end, meet with success?”  
“Hah. Truly, you must think so little of me, to even dare presume your value was of insignificance to me. No matter what I think of you, this is the path I will walk – with, or without you.”

_An anger was ignited within me, one that would not be abated. A detestable emotion._

“Walk it, then. Prove to me that you have the strength to extinguish our bond and this looming calamity.”

_I knew it to be so, but red filled my vision. There, I saw it. The hurt in her eyes; her face. I had inflicted a wound of immeasurable magnitude, all within mere seconds._

“Hades… I… I don’t want to let go of you, of us. The crux is simply thus – we have two concepts that are polar opposites. In this instance, there can only be one outcome, and I refuse to choose the option of a mediocre ‘salvation’ that only begets destruction.”  
“I will hear of this no longer, as clearly, there is no further room for discussion.”  
“You would leave this on such a sour note?”

_To accept her, and burn in paradise, or reject her, and save a myriad of innocents._

“Go.”  
“… Be well, Hades.”

_This wasn’t what I wanted._

…

_Unbelievable. It’s unthinkable. It’s as if she blamed me for finding this route, and not siding with her for her own. I could see as such in her eyes, burning with rebellion. The Thirteen of us did it together – she wouldn’t deign to attend the meetings to even understand the methodology behind our conclusion. Her notions are unfathomable. It isn’t as though we want to do this, but we honestly have no choice. We have precious little time left to us, and, if it costs us half of our people, so be it. Zodiark is our only recourse. To prevent further decimation by this calamity is my sole priority, and if I must let her go…_

_Let her go._

_Truthfully, I had thought her feelings for me to triumph this, but alas, that was a delusion on my part. I knew of her stubbornness, boldness, recklessness, simplicity, and determination well prior to our engagement. Was it merely my hopefulness in her love for me that I expected her to stay with me? To side with me? Curses. She’d spurned me the moment I tried to discuss our possible Doom’s Day solution with her – for not seeing the cruelty in it. The immorality. The injustice. I don’t necessarily blame her, but… even I knew. That she didn’t consider my own trepidation, after our many experiences… it’s more than I can bear._

_Let her go._

_Ah… I know not what she feels. How she lives. I’ve seen her only sparingly since then – portraying herself as the picture of perfection. Tell me, my Darling, is it tumultuous for you, this predicament? To argue? To disagree? To discard? To leave me? Does that fire no longer burn within you? Do you yet yearn for me? My heart aches for you, incessantly. This instance in time without you is more agonizing that even I presumed imaginable. I… miss you, dearly._

_Let me go._

…

_In the end, we managed to save a portion of our people. I am, at the very least, proud for that. We can press on, albeit broken and battered, to forge a better future. My discussions with the Thirteen in regard to reconstruction have been going well – it seems as though we’ll be able to make decent progress on relief efforts and fortifications._

_Full well am I to see this calamity averted, and yet… there is this nagging sense of disquiet I feel as these days pass by. She isn’t here. I know her to be hale, however, her presence has gone unaccounted for since the time of Zodiark’s summoning. ‘Tis likely a cursory worry, as the general populace has nevertheless continued to place their good faith in us and our deductions._

_My passion for her persists, even after the occurrence of these events – I daresay that it is unlikely that my love for her will ever dissipate from my heart. The inferno she sparked within me burns as intensely than ever, if not more so. Everything she meant to me, everything she was, is, and will be… Oh, the fool am I to linger and dwell within the memories of her aether. I will find her again, someday, and make right that which was wronged._

…

“M-my Beloved… How could you?”

_How?_

“Come now, my dear Hades. Is it really time to say such things?”

_Why?_

“I… I…”  
“You knew deep in your heart, down to the very core of your being, that this had been my answer. I told you as such before, no?”  
“Please… please tell me that this is an illusion…”

_Say it. Break this nightmare._

“It isn’t. You, and those Twelve – the Thirteen of you denied any alternatives. I took matters into my own hands.”  
“…Your own hands? You killed yourself for this.”  
“I did, yes. Yes…”

_No more. I can withstand no more._

“Why do you appear before me? Why do you perpetuate my torture? Why have you taken away all that I have strived for, all that I have achieved, all that I had hoped for? I have been your prisoner from the outset, yet you would have me continue as such after your decision to abandon me?”  
“…”  
“For all this choice of yours was worth, I lost you. I lost our loved ones. Our friends. Our people. Our home. Our star – everything. Every. Single. Thing. Even still, at this precipice, you have chosen to manifest in front of me. For what? To preach to me? Haunt me? Tell me. Tell me that it was right to preserve our star in this perverse manner. I want to hear you utter the words to me – to smite me more than you already have!”

_Make me despise you. Let me hate you._

“Hades, I… You and the Thirteen intended to sacrifice more than what was necessary. To bring back those that had been lost… Zodiark wasn’t initially imbued with such a concept, was He? Enough was enough – why couldn’t you let those that had been lost rest?”

_Don’t look at me like that. With those eyes._

“To bring our world back, to turn back the clock, to restore what we had lost – I will not relent. I will bring back what was ours.”

_Our world belongs to us. You belong to me. We belong together._  
“Ah… Hades… I love you; I earnestly do. I’m losing the energy to remain here, so this will be the last time I see you like this. I… It is my profound hope that you find some measure of peace, somehow, in some way. It’s silly of me to, at this point, apologize to you, but… nay, I won’t pursue that thought. Please, please live on for a brighter future. For those we can yet save.”

_No-!_

“Don’t-”

_Aether. Her aether. I tried to seize her, one last time, to feel some semblance of her being before she dissipated. Just like that, she was gone. She took everything from me, but herself most of all. That betrayal, no, this visceral wound, was what she left for me. More painful than the destruction she wrought, was how my heart began to shatter into bits and pieces. It hadn’t quite occurred to me, the value she had. I treasured her, cherished her, sacrificed for her – she was more precious than my very being. My own existence. A presence that I never fathomed was so essential. I let her go. Willingly. Spitefully. Hatefully. Scornfully. Miserably. It was as if, in rejecting her, I doomed our star by my own hand._

_What have I done?_

…

_Eons have I trudged through, shackled by her memory, her deeds. Now here, in this moment, in this fragmented world, have I arrived at a crossroads. I toil for the sake of my people, lost to the devastation wrought by Hydaelyn and her summoners. I have observed, determined, and judged this… false breed of ‘beings’ to be that of beasts, unfit for any faith I may place in them. Yet she, in this shard, appeared before me, one of decent fortitude, with which I had pressed into service. I found her wanting – both in terms of willpower and longevity._

_‘Peace’? ‘A brighter future’? ‘For those we can yet save’? I will have naught of such hollow ideologies. Dying wishes. Fading pleas. If this one, an entity that has survived seven Rejoinings, cannot manage this simple a task, all is lost. I have availed myself to her and her companions, and for what? Failure? Disappointment? Ah, the chagrin I feel, for having placed even a sliver of hope in her and hers! Even now, lo, the audacity! To step foot into my simulacrum and disregard the precise instructions of my invitation! Such disobedience merits punishment, of which I am glad to administer._

…

“No… It can’t be…”  
“…”  
“Bah, a trick of the light. You are a broken husk, nothing more.”

_Or is she?_

“How can you hope to stand against me alone?”

_My eyes don’t play tricks on me. I’ve seen enough – with and without Light._

“We stand together!”

_?!_

“How did-!? …I’m surprised you can stand at all.”  
“I could not well leave matters half-finished.”

_Damned Exarch…!_

“Let expanse contract, eon become instant! Champions from beyond the rift, heed my call!”  
“Damn you! Damn you all!”

_Inconceivable! How long must I suffer this indignation? No longer!_

“[I challenge you, Emet-Selch.]”  
“Very well. Let us proceed to your final judgement. The victor shall write the tale, and the vanquished become its villain! But come! Let us cast aside titles and pretense, and reveal our true faces to one another!”

_I will not abandon my dreams, hopes, suffering, and despair to sundered existences!_

“I am Hades! He who shall awaken our brethren from their dark slumber!”

“…Hades? You called yourself… Hades? Truly?”

_Strange._

“Did you not hear me clearly?! Prepare yourself, oh Warrior of Darkness – these are your final, pathetic moments!”  
“‘Warrior of Darkness’…? That’s not right, is it?”

_Too peculiar to be a coincidence._

“Are you daft? Have you not, through immense tribulation, gained the strength to face me, or am I mistaken? Will you allow yourself to be killed? To relinquish those you can yet save?”  
“Hah, how ironic. Still, you presume too little of me, and I too much of you. You haven’t changed in the slightest, Hades.”

_Impossible. This isn’t happening. It can’t be._

“Y-you… you’re-”  
“The ‘Warrior of Darkness’? Not quite. Don’t you mean [Redacted]? Have you forgotten of me so easily, my sweet Hades?”

_T-this aether…!_  
“No, no, no, this isn’t right! You sacrificed yourself – died before my very eyes! I witnessed you fade into the aether from which you came! How- how-?!”

_How could I not recognize the ring of her voice? The determination of her gaze?_

“…I am aware that it is undeniably difficult for you to trust that I am, in fact, standing before you, but there is nothing else I can offer you, except that, yes, it is, and could only be, me. [Redacted.]”  
“I- I let you go! Throughout these years, centuries, eons – I have carried you and our people within me, endured, suffered, hoped, despaired… A soul without repose, a walking corpse! Never to forget the plight of our people meant to remain caged by your love and perishing sentiments. Even still, I let you go. I wanted to. I tried. I thought I did. Though now, I see – I… am more broken than I imagined, without the mirror of my soul to stand with me.”

_Beyond any shadow of my doubts? Can I be certain of her existence here? In this place, this moment?_

“My lovable fool. I watched you, throughout all your journey. Indeed, akin to a restless spirit, I followed you, comforted you, held you, sung to you – for naught. You could no longer connect with my aether, so fragmented as it was. Now, with eight Rejoinings, this ‘broken husk’ houses more than half of my sundered soul. Do you yet seek to destroy such a vessel?”

_The closer I approach, the more ethereal she seems. Fragile. Delicate. As in her perishing instant._

“I… I have not the heart to lose you again, [Redacted]. The pain refused to abate, not an ilm; there was no ebb in the flow of my turmoil. I knew not what strength was necessary to let go of you. Thoughts of you tormented me – your emotions, visions, reasons, all of it. I refused to burn in a paradise of sorrow, and yet, that was such what I had wrought. Of you and them.”  
“You have been perpetually blaming yourself for my actions, and I will not see you persist in this senselessness.”  
“What exactly are you implying?”  
“Hmph. A proposition for you, then.”  
“…?”  
“I am, and am not, the ‘Warrior of Darkness’. This existence is mine, but it is also not mine. You understand this, yes?”  
“To an extent. Its root lies in your sundered soul.”  
“Good – you understand my situation, bonds of the past and present. So, to you, my imprudent paramour, I say this: 

[I challenge you, Hades.] 

For those we have lost, and those we can yet save. Will you walk with me on this journey, afresh, and for all eternity?”

_What a question she asks of me. Stubborn and foolhardy as ever – as if time had never frozen for me that day. For us. To continue where we paused, to forgive, and to love, forever more._

“As always, you propose the most bizarre of inquiries to me.”  
“Ah, but do you blame me for wanting to hear you utter the words to me?”  
“Heh. Not in the slightest.”  
“Say it to me. Let us change the future of this star – together, this time.”

_Oh… it truly is her. The feel of her aether. Her being. Her cheek in my palm. These tears. How the lights dance in her eyes. How beautiful she is. How strikingly singular. There could be none other._

“I accept your challenge, [Redacted]. Not ever will I let you go. With all my heart, my soul, and my being – I swear to you with this kiss of promise.”  
“Thank you, Hades… For boundless eternity, nevermore to be parted.”  
“Yes – hand-in-hand, souls entwined. Onward, to paradise.”

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration for this comes from depictions of Hades huggin the WoL/D and What It Takes by Aerosmith (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSnuQcFgvDo) [this was the only song i listened to while writing this... i heard it play at work and i had Feelings]


End file.
